


You Can't Blame Gravity

by JustAnotherUnderstudy



Series: Obscure Ships That Should Sail [1]
Category: James Bond (Classic movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond (Sean Connery), James Bond - All Media Types
Genre: Classic Bond, Developing Relationship, Diamonds are Forever, F/M, Introspection, Lois Maxwell's Moneypenny, Pre-Relationship, Sean Connery's Bond, This is Not the Bond/Moneypenny story you are looking for, movie-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 00:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14032035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnotherUnderstudy/pseuds/JustAnotherUnderstudy
Summary: After his assignment posing as a diamond smuggler, James finally retires. But there are parts of the job he misses, just don't ask him to explain. T for language and insinuation.





	You Can't Blame Gravity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [helsinkibaby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/gifts).



> Well, this is new. As you can see, this is not a 00M ship. Nor is it a modern Bond/Moneypenny ship. It got this idea from watching the Connery films recently. It started out as a bit of a funny, Crack! fic, then it morphed into something more, then I was watching the scene between Bond and Moneypenny in Diamonds are Forever and, well, it finally came together. I think you can find the scene on YouTube if you want to watch it. There is actually a video of all the Bond&Moneypenny scenes somewhere.
> 
> Anyway, This story is dedicated to Helskinkibaby because she mentioned shipping them last year when I wrote my fanworks Bond/Flash crossover (of sorts) fic. I had never shipped them, though I began watching the films when Moore was Bond. I just always thought him too much of a womanizer for Moneypenny. But I have been looking to see if there's more, and I sort of found it in the interactions between Connery's Bond and Maxwell's Moneypenny. In watching them again, it seems like it's mutual flirting, with Moneypenny being just as casual as James. Until Diamonds are Forever. Then it's sort of odd. It's not quite as light and meaningless as the previous encounters. And this was my takeaway...
> 
> (Note: This may or may not have more chapters added later. I'm kinda busy but this story just sort of coalesced in one afternoon.)

_Bond: Anything you want me to bring you from Holland, Moneypenny?_  
_Moneypenny: A diamond...in a ring._  
_Bond: Would you settle for a tulip? [He drives away]_

...  
It wasn’t the request that surprised him so much as his immediate response. They were always flirting with each other but both knew it was only in humor. Miss Moneypenny was no more interested in settling down with a known Lethario than that Lethario was in settling down. But when the request for a diamond...in a ring tumbled out of Moneypenny’s mouth that day, James could actually envision it in his mind. It scared the hell out of him and he beat a hasty retreat, forsaking their usual banter for the mumbled promise of a tulip and leaving a surprised Moneypenny in his rear view mirror.  
  
He’d retired shortly after that assignment, settling into bachelor life in London, and subtly opening shop as a private investigator of sorts. He took what jobs interested him and played cards and women in between time.  
  
One night he was out, and somewhere between cards and women, when he ran into Q. He and the quartermaster spent the evening playing cards and sharing drinks and talking over the less sensitive parts of their past acquaintance.  
  
“What would you say you miss the most about the job?” Q asked.  
  
James gave it a moment of thought, maybe longer than should be expected, because the first thing that came to mind was Moneypenny. He shoved that thought aside and gave some bullshit answer about fast cars and faster women.  
  
After Q said his good-byes, the woman Bond had been flirting with all night finally approached him and they left together. He spent what he tried to convince himself was an enjoyable night with her and returned to his apartment.  
  
Bond had never been one for deep introspection. He was a man who thought on his feet and responded to situations immediately. He’d always been that way, labeled impulsive by his nurse and later his teachers, but it was a personality that served him well as a 00.  
  
He wanted to dismiss his current thoughts as he often did when things began to run too deep. As a 00, it was this sort of thinking that could lead him to slip up and make a deadly error. But he was no longer a 00, no one ever needed to know what he was thinking now.  
  
This morning, as he drank his coffee, he stared out the window of his kitchen and contemplated Miss Moneypenny. The conclusion his thoughts lead him to was that he should call her and ask her out, just as friends, and see how that went.  
  
He ignored the fact that he never did this with any woman. Instead, he applauded himself at being so levelheaded. He hadn’t run out and bought the damned ring already, after all.


End file.
